The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1887-09-15
ASK ME- NO MORE.

ASK ME NJ MONE.
The September sun. straying through
the vine-coyered corner Of 4 Newport
piazza, flickered over two figures-a
man and girls. A pretty enough
picture they made. She in her tlmy
laces. in the wide armchair. and he in
velvet jacket and knickerbockers.
stretched lazily at her feet, while be-
yond lay the broad horizontal bands Of
white sand, purple ocean and turquoise
sky.
The girl slowly closed the blue and
gold volume of Tennyson from which
she had been reading, and dreamily
repeated, half aloud:
.s.Ask me no more; the moon may draw
the sea,
The clouds may stoop from heaven, and
take the shape,
With fold to fold of mountain or Of cape,
Ask me no more!
..Do you think he ought to have
asked her again after that?'' she con-
tinued.
The young man tossed pebble out
over the water, and waited to see the
last ripple vanish before he replied. Il
have no doubt that he did ask her
again, and have no doubt that she
would have been awfully disappointed
if he hadn't
Hilda Grey looked down at the
speaker with a smile, haIf-vexed, half
amused. She was Boston girl, and
Enstuce Payne was New York man,
and therefore. as she told herself. it
was a case of imperfect sympathies.
The old battle of realism versus ideal
ism was perpetually waging between
them. Payne ridiculed the Concord
Philosophers. and burlesqued their phil
osophy. He boldly declared, not that
he could not understand Harris, which
would have been received as a tribute,
bnt that Harris did not know what he
meant himself, Emerson. he said, was
saved by sense of humor which made
him half New Yorker. The mind
cure he called Boston witchcraft, and
professed to think as dangerous as the
Salem delusion of old. Yet the aggres-
siye campaign was not all on his side.
When he maligned the mind cure.
my lady retorted with contemptuous
references to Irving Bishop; when he
belittled Boston divinities, she chal-
lenged him to produce their peers in
Manhattan, and when he snssreA M
Concord she jeered at Chautauqua. The
..Grove" she called q lucus a non lucendo.
The Chautauquan method summed
mp. so she said. the New Yorker idea of
culture-prize questions in English
literature. historical tableaux and scrip
ture conundrums with black-black illus
trations, the whole crowned by di-
ploma certifying that the holder was able
to compete with any university giant,
like David with Goliath. armed simply
but sufficiently with the Chautauquan
sling. So the warfof words had been
carried on through the long summer
days and the moonlight summer even
ings. floating on the bay, driving on
the avenue and strolling on the bluffs.
Often, under flag of truce, other sub.
iects had been discussed on friendly
terms, and yet each evening left Hilda
with sense of discomfort in herself and
her companion. Sometimes they seemed
to draw very near each other in spirit.
ual sympathy. and then all at once 3
discordant note would be struck which
set her oversensitive nerves quivering
Their discords often came when AZ
now. she was led on to speak out hel
psychological questionings. In Eustace
Payne's mind, to produce ones serious
thoughts and deep convictions in ordi.
nary conversation was like woman's
wearing diamond earrings to market,
justifying suspicion that they were
paste, and branding the owner as to
the world of culture. To Hilda Grey,
on the other hand, it seemed that all
talk, to be good for anything, must dig
down into the verities, and it was with
shade Of impaticnce in her tone that
she took up the thread Of the converse.
ton.
81 am not discussing the heroine's
feelings. The question is, should you
think man would care to marry q
woman who wanted not to love him?'
Certainly not, unless her unwilling
ness could be overcome"
A lawyers bubble. Let me if pos
sible, make my idea clear enough fol
your comprehension. / mean would q
woman's determination not to care fol
you be an incentive to you to strive to
win her love? say you, meaning the
average man."
Payne slowly drew himself up to his
full six feet of hight, and with his cal
waved mock salute as he answered.
.'s1is an old maxim of the schools
That fiattery's the food of FOOLS
but if you really think me competent t.
speak for the average man, shoult
say, Yes, in a certain way. do moi
care for pigeon shooting; prefer shyel
game; and ! can understand that pique
that last infirmity Of noble mind,
might lend an added zest to courtship
but after all, the motive of her aversion
in marrying me would make all thu
difference in the world. If, for in
stance, II were disparity OF rank ant
fortune, confess have no fancy fol
playing Bertram to any Lady Geral
dine"
Excellent. Here we have the gauge
of the average man, and, behold, it i:
vanity. Affection may go to the wall
but his precious selfesteem must not bt
wounded. So long as your pride would
be gratiiied by conquering her inditier.
ence you would strive for herregardlikt
politician for office, but if winning
her acceptance of her fortune, you pre-
fer to button up your coat over your
bursting heart, and, as you would mag
nificently call it conquer your passion
as | should say, sacrifice yourself and
her OH the altar of vanity
Payne unclasped the knee which he
had been holding as he leaned back